A Strange Love
by Lex Leonski
Summary: This is the story of an unnamed young man caught up in the middle of the S-plan in which he reflects on some of his past experiences with his Sekirei that have brought them all to their current point in life. Rated-T for mild and suggestive language and situations.


Hello everyone! Long story short, I'm a longtime lurker who decided it's time to start contributing. A few explanatory facts about this story and we'll get underway.

I'm currently in the process of writing another Sekirei story and I kind of hit a wall with writers block on that one so I was brainstorming ideas for that and it led to the creation of this one-shot.

This is **NOT **a self insert, this is one-shot set in an alternate version of the Sekirei universe with an as of yet unnamed Original Character I'm still working on. The story is supposed to be a 1st person narrative through the eyes of this character. I know my perspectives in this story are far from perfect and may jump all over the place at times, but bear with me, this is my first work, I'll get better.

There will be a good deal of OOC-ness for some in this story, though it wont be too extreme.

And finally an obligatory **Disclaimer: **I do not own nor profit off of any of the content, characters, or references derived from the Sekirei universe in this fan made fictional story.

I hope you enjoy!

* * *

I awoke to a very familiar sensation. Not being able to help smiling I began to open my eyes only to be blinded by the flare of the morning sunlight.

"Argh you horrid ball of unpleasantness." I muttered under my breath as I re-sealed my eyelids to allow time for my eyes to adjust to the bright first light streaming though the bedroom window adjacent to the bed I currently lay on.

I heard one of the occupants sharing my bed mumble something under their breath. The sound of her soft voice made me momentarily forget about the obnoxious radioactive ball of gas that had sniped my eyeballs from millions of miles away just moments before.

Recognizing the voice, I pivoted my head left towards the direction of its origin and slowly opened my eyes in an attempt to obtain a view that was rarer than the sighting of most Cryptids.

It took a moment for my eyes to adjust after they opened; but as soon as they had, they bore witness to that sight few had ever seen and even fewer had lived to tell the tale of seeing, though I'm sure many would take that penalty or worse many times over to even catch a glimpse of it at least once in their lifetime.

The sight in front of me was that of what appeared to be a young adult female. She was on her right side with her body laying parallel to my own. Her left leg sprawled out across my own two and her left arm rested across my chest maintaining a loose grip on my t-shirt. Her head rested on a makeshift pillow, which was comprised of my left arm and her right arm was looped underneath my left arm and up behind my shoulder blade, where her right hand held a semi-firm grip on my shoulder. She was dressed in a white t-shirt that was entirely too large for her petite frame and a pair of pink and white plaid sleep shorts.

Her head of natural pink hair was strewn messily all over the place; with a single strand in particular right on her left nostril. This single outlaw follicle, coupled with her rhythmic breathing amounted to the hair constantly brushing in, out, and across her nostril as she slept; causing her to subconsciously scrunch up and wiggle her nose every so often in a futile effort to alleviate the cause of the irritation.

I grinned widely at the sight in front of me, thinking how normal this abnormal situation was, or how it might look to someone outside of my daily life. In fact, with just the previous bits of information most people would probably think or feel that I had just described a semi-average couple in the morning. But the young women currently garnering my attention was far from average. I guess if you really want to get technical the same goes for me as well. I let out a single stifled chuckle trying not to disturb my bedmate.

"Shhhh, no…stop…be quiet." she mumbled, while simultaneously and rather suddenly tightening her grip to dangerous levels on my shoulder; which served as a literal wake up call to the potentially lethal situation I was in.

Biting my lip to suppress the cry of pain that attempted to escaped them I quickly pivoted my head in the opposite direction to see the familiar yet extremely unexpected sight of my once male now turned female Sekirei clad in nothing but a baggy, unbuttoned, button up dress shirt curled up next to me. I blinked twice almost unsure if I was actually awake, but the increasing pain in my left shoulder said otherwise. Deciding it didn't really matter either way I called out in a barely audible whisper.

"Homura! Homura! Please wake up I need your help." She didn't respond at all to my vocal beckoning, so I moved my right hand to her forehead and began to gently nudge on it while continuing calling her name.

After a few moments she finally began to stir and her eyes lazily fluttered open. She blinked twice seemingly confused by the situation. That look of confusion was almost immediately replaced by a look best described as 'pure horror'. Her face exhibited a shade of red I previously had not known to exist and her eyes opened to three times their normal size. Sensing what was about to happen I quickly grabbed her arm and shushed her as loudly as I could without waking up our other bedmate.

"Shhhh! Please don't scream! I'm just as confused as you are, but I really need your help right now so please don't leave me!" I said desperately in an attempt to prevent her from running away and abandoning me as I suspected she was dying to do at that very moment. Homura simply sat there frozen with a petrified look on her face.

Even though I felt bad I decided that for the moment it was probably in my best interest to ignore Homura's feelings and try and illicit some help as quickly as possible before she decided that she would leave regardless of what I wanted. I slowly released my grip on her wrist, silently praying in my mind that she wouldn't bolt. When I noticed her hesitate for a moment I quickly motioned to my left side and silently mouthed out "She's going to break my shoulder! Please help me!".

By this point tears were beginning to form in my eyes as the pressure being applied to my should continued to be subconsciously increased by my sleeping Sekirei, probably from all incidental movement that I was making.

The terrified and embarrassed look instantaneously disappeared from Homura's face as and was immediately replaced with a look that was a mix of great concern and high irritation. She nodded quickly and leaned over towards her sleeping sister; as she was doing so it became instantly apparent to me that she was wearing absolutely nothing else beside her shirt. I closed my eyes out of respect for her, knowing she would die of embarrassment if she saw me ogling her. However, regardless of my willpower, I couldn't help but steal a few quick peaks at her perfectly shaped creamy white breasts hanging just inches above me face, or her toned hourglass shaped sides. She really was a sight to behold…

I heard Homura snap her finger lightly and glanced over to see a tiny flame now dancing on the tip of her left pointer finger. "Don't burn her too badly please." I whispered, she responded with a grin that somehow was not very reassuring.

My apprehension only continued to rise as I saw the tiny flame on the tip of her finger change from a small flickering orange color to a steady deep blue, ironically almost exactly matching the color nail polish she was wearing. My mind wandered off on a tangent about these few facts, recalling how much she had changed since I had winged her back when 'she' was still a 'he'.

None of these changes happened over night, in fact it was a rather slow and painful process at times. Homura hadn't instantly become a female at the time of her winging. Even though 'she' was still a 'he' down below she had already begun to exhibit a lot of feminine physical traits including but not limited to her chest developing.

Later on after the winging, it was explained to me that Homura's gender was messed up because of the fact that she was reacting to me and that her gender would be whatever I saw her as. Apparently I hadn't truly defined a rock solid perception of Homura's gender inside my head back then and I felt extremely bad to say the least. It was only after I started to really pay attention to Homura as one of my Sekirei that I began to see her in a different light. What followed was a period of rather intensive care to say the least…

* * *

Only 2 days after I had begun to really think about what I wanted Homura to be, or rather on the third night; I was asleep having a dream about a rather steamy encounter with an all female Homura in the bathroom when I was aroused from my ***ahem*** rather pleasant dream by a shrill scream. I jumped up out of my sleep only to hear the scream followed up by an equally shrill "**ITS GONE!**".

I got up and rushed towards the source of the scream only to find Homura kneeling on the bathroom floor facing the toilet. Her pajama pants appeared to be soaked and were around her ankles dripping onto the floor as she sat there sobbing. Even with the compounding factors that I was still only half awake and that I could be rather slow on the uptake, it didn't take me but a quick glance at the scene and then her lower body to realize what the problem was.

"Homura…" I uttered softly taking a step towards her. Suddenly aware that she wasn't alone she turned and looked right at me. It seemed like it took her a moment to process that it was me, but once she did a look that I will never forget as long as I live came across her face.

I think it is best described as a look that contained almost ever negative emotion one could possibly imagine a face could make. Most noticeable was the look of pure unadulterated hate that was in her eyes; it was a look so intense it froze me in my tracks, and actually caused me to fear for my life in that moment, a feat previously only managed by 1 other. I took a step back in pure terror, but it was too late.

She stood up quickly and her entire body ignited and was engulfed in her trademark orange-ish flame. I lifted my arms in an attempt to protect myself from the inferno as it already began to scorch my skin as she roared at the top of her lungs: **"YOU! THIS IS YOUR FAULT! IT'S YOUR FAULT I'M LIKE THIS! JUST DIE!". **

As she said that, the flames dancing around her now fully nude body changed color from their normal yellow/orange, to a deep blue/purple. I really don't remember much of what happened after that. Just that the force of the sudden violent rise in air temperature threw me out of the bathroom; and as I was thrown I briefly caught a glimpse of my other Sekirei racing down the hall towards me but they were too late. Everything went dark after that, apparently the force was so strong it had thrown me through the wall of the second story hallway of our house and outside into the garden some of my girls maintained in the backyard.

* * *

When I came to, the first thing I realized was that I could not see, nor open my eyes. As my brain gradually became more alert and my senses began to take in my surroundings I became aware that I was in a strange place laying in a strange bed. I opened my mouth to call out to someone, but all that escaped was a small cry.

Not even a second after I had attempted to speak I felt someone throw their arms around me in a hurried manner and pull me to them in a close embrace. Unable to do anything about that I simply tried to use my available senses to gauge where I was. It didn't take but 30 seconds to figure it out, I was in a hospital room. My ears heard the unmistakable rhythmic beeping of a medical heart monitor and other small sounds one would hear in a recovery wing of your average hospital. But the real confirmation was that nasty sterile smell in the air. I remembered it all too well from my childhood years which where plagued by various operations necessitating numerous long duration stays in hospitals.

I thought about how much I hated that smell but quickly forgot as I was pulled into an even tighter embrace from my unknown giver of affection. The smell of the room was suddenly overpowered by another smell, it was very soft, smelling faintly of a scent best described as a neutral clean soapy scent with a touch of Jasmine. As nice as this person smelled, it became instantly and painful obvious that their embrace was causing negative affects all throughout my body. Unable to find the strength to move, it took all I had to force out an audible "it hurts".

I was promptly released as I heard a quick and barely audible apology. "It's alright." I choked out quietly laying back down and then followed up with an inquisitive "Who are you?".

"It's me." was all the now clearly identifiable female voice stated quietly. I had to replay the vocalization I just heard in my head a few times to make sure I heard correctly.

I recognized the voice but it was one of the last ones I expected to hear.

"Karasuba?" I asked inquisitively seeking confirmation that I was not in fact imagining hearing my most dangerous and aggressive Sekirei's voice.

"Yep" was all she replied. Her voice sounded strange, the usual arrogant and condescending tone was replaced with a docile almost seemingly frightened tone.

"What's wrong? You ok?" I asked, legitimately puzzled by how out of character she seemed.

"Idiot, you're in the hospital in this state and the first thing you ask me is if I'm ok?" I heard her chuckle out, which trailed off into a light sob. "Don't be like this now, please." I heard her whisper, then felt her get up and slide into bed next to me.

She gently placed on arm across my chest and I felt her breath on my ear as she moved in and whispered: "Don't be kind now, be selfish, ask for anything and I promise it's yours.". She rested her head on my shoulder and I felt a warm liquid which I figured to be tears begin seeping into my attire.

Confused, caught off guard, and completely lost I decided it'd be best to take her up on that offer.  
"Alright, then can you tell me what happened? Where am I? How did I get here? Why are you here?". I felt her raise her head and heard her clear her throat.

"Good that's more like it. Well let's start from the bottom: I'm here because I am your Sekirei and am concerned for you. You were carried here by Benitsubasa. You are in the Hospital. And what happened was you got thrown out of the second story of our house and burned pretty badly by a flippant flame Sekirei making a mountain out of a molehill." She uttered the last part with such venom and malice that any doubt in my mind of the individual currently next to me being my Karasuba, vanished instantly and even elicited a shudder from my persons.

"The way you said that makes me wonder if I still have a flame Sekirei…" I trailed off quietly.

To which she quickly responded "Oh trust me, if it was up to me and some of the others she'd be long gone. But miss sticks her nose into everybody's business insisted on stopping us and distracted us with the prospect of getting you immediate medical attention." with a rather irritated tone.

I chuckled in relief instantly knowing only one person who could elicit such a reaction from Karasuba, and she had saved poor Homura's skin, I had to remember to thank her as soon as I got the chance. Relaxing a bit now knowing that Homura was still alive and in good care I breathed out a sigh of relief.

Karasuba took notice of it and grumbled irritably "Why are you relieved about that? She deserved to die. I mean look at what she did to you…."

"Haha it's alright Karasuba, please don't worry about me. Honestly I believe I kind of had it coming. I haven't really been fair to Homura in a lot of ways and this is what I get for not properly considering her feelings and being a thoughtless Ashikabi." I said trying to divert Karasuba's noticeably building malice from thoughts of Homura. "Besides a few burns and losing my vision isn't all that bad. Haha I mean I have you guys to help me out always right?" I said suddenly realizing just how pathetic that sounded.

"I mean don't get me wrong I won't trouble you guys, but I may need some help to get used to these new circumstances and…and…and…Karasuba…be honest…how bad do I look right now?" I slowly choked out as it really began to hit me that as far as I knew I was now blind and possibly disgustingly maimed and scarred. Karasuba didn't respond and only scooted herself closer to me and started to run her hands through my hair.

The silence went on for about a minute before I finally broke it: "That bad huh?".

"Unfortunately so." she whispered quietly still playing with my hair, I felt her lips brush against my cheek with a light kiss.

"But that doesn't change anything." she stated.

I bit my lip trying to suppress the instinct to cry as I thought about everything that could happen now. I was gross, and blind. Why would any of them want me, how could any of them want to be with me anymore.

Trying to distract myself I asked Karasuba a few more questions about everyone else's involvement finally ending with: "By the way, why are you being so nice to me? I mean, I get that you're my Sekirei and you don't seem to hate me or I'd have been dead a long time ago. Plus you have been very helpful in the past, but this is the first time you've ever been so soft and touchy feely with me. Why is that?" I asked.

"Well you pretty much answered that yourself. I **am** your Sekirei, and as such I do enjoy spending time with you." She replied.

"Well could have fooled me sometimes with the way you act at home." I muttered.

"Hey! You can just shut up! I have every right to be annoyed with you most of the time. You always, **ALWAYS** have someone hanging onto you or around you demanding this and that. It gets under my skin like you wouldn't even believe! I do want the opportunity to spend some time with you as well, but I will not do it with everyone prancing about making snarky comments and teasing me…." her voice trailed off.

Suddenly it all made sense, and I felt pretty terrible. Outside of her usual teasing and tormenting of the others Karasuba was very quiet, the embodiment of speaks only when spoken to or when necessary. That coupled with her colorful reputation within the Sekirei community stacked on top of the fact that I had quite the lively flock of Sekirei for myself must have made it incredibly difficult on her.

"I'm sorry…I really am a terrible Ashikabi." I said on the verge of tears.

"Hahahahaha, are you seriously feeling sorry for yourself? God, come on, don't be so pathetic. You're not blind or anything like that. Your eyelids just got singed a bit when you got thrown out of the house. Honestly the worst injuries you sustained were a gash on your back and a mild concussion from the fall. You got some mild burns on your body but you actually weren't burned directly it was the rapidly expanding super-heated air that did most of the damage before Homura even had a chance to attempt to attack you." Karasuba finally spat out laughing.

It didn't take me very long to realize that probably the entire previous conversation had been a very cruel prank, somehow it didn't surprise me. In response I rolled over so as to face away from her and pouted, deciding I wasn't going to speak to her anymore in a fit of childish rage and humiliation.

"Oh come on don't be like that." She teased as she attempted to roll me back over on my back. But I wasn't having it.

"Hey not all of that was a joke you know. I really did mean what I said about the lack of time you spend with me. In fact you deserve much worse than what I just did given the circumstances." she said.

That hit me where it hurt; I slowly rolled back over and pulled her into a close embrace. "Your right, I'm sorry." I felt her briefly tense up seemingly not expecting my sudden reaction, but then she quickly relaxed and reciprocated the embrace.

"See, this is nice isn't it?" She said quietly.

"It really is." I responded as I began feel myself drifting towards sleep.

"Hey Karasuba."

"hmm?" she hummed in response.

" I love you.." I trailed off.

"…idiot…saying something like that so suddenly..but..you know that I…I lo-" was all I remember hearing before I fell into a deep sleep.

* * *

Within a week I was healed up enough to return home though I did have to keep the bandages on my eyes for a few extra days. That led to a lot of awkward situation in which I was taken advantage of due to my temporary blindness. I will leave the contents of those situations up to your own imagination for the time being…

Anyway, after I did finally get the bandages off I decided I needed to go talk things over with Homura. So I made my way to the 2nd level basement of the house we live in since apparently she had been holed up in Matsu's underground server farm/vault ever since the incident had occurred.

When I stepped off the modest size elevator that had been installed to easily move all the heavy computer equipment down there I was greeted by my Sekirei Yume with a bright smile beaming from her face. She walked over to me from in front of the vault door and gently pulled me into a warm greeting embrace which I instantly reciprocated.

"She still in there?" I asked stepping back from the hug after a few moments.

"Yep, doesn't look like she plans on coming out any time soon either." Yume said with a disappointed tone.

"Thank you for protecting her and looking out for her while I was gone. You have no idea how much it means to me." I said stepping forward and planting a loving kiss on her soft lips.

After a few seconds I pulled away from her while she pouted noticeably. "You look tired, Matsu told me you haven't been more than 10 meters away from Homura since it all went down. Go upstairs and get some food, take a bath, and relax. I'll take care of everything from here alright?" I said giving her a loving peck on her forehead.

"You sure that's a good idea?" She said giving me a concerned look with very good reason.

"Yes, it'll be fine don't worry. Matsu will alert you guys if something goes wrong but I am confident it will all be ok. Trust me alright?" I said giving her confident look as I ushered her inside of the elevator.

"Alright…"she trailed off as she pushed the button for the 2nd floor.

"I'll see you later alright? I love you Yume!" I said blowing her overly exaggerated kiss. She giggled and mimicked the motion as the elevator doors closed "I love you too! Good luck!" I turned and approached Vault door which housed my estranged fire Sekirei, utilizing the Infrared Eye and Palm scanner the vault opened with a loud creak and moan.

I took a deep breath and then stepped inside and the hit the switch to re-seal the main entrance. After it was sealed I walked through the decontamination chambers and then changed into the standard Vault attire, which comprised of a powdered blue and yellow jumpsuit. The jumpsuit was sterilized and anti-static so as not to cause any issues with the large amounts of advanced equipment down here.

Finishing up I asked Matsu over the com headset I now wore as part of the Vault uniform to upload Homura's current location for me onto the H.U.D (Heads Up Display) projected onto the safety glasses I wore. She complied and I saw that Homura was in the cafeteria on the 4th Basement level.

I grumbled quietly to myself about how far I would have to walk. Don't get me wrong though, Matsu's Fallout inspired Vault was absolutely brilliant. It was almost like a mini city down there, it had 4 levels, dozens of rooms, labs, and all necessary facilities required to survive down there for long duration's of time (If I remember correctly she said that fully supplied we'd be fine for 20 years without ever having to open the Vault).

When I had inquired why we needed it during the construction of our house she had simply replied "Because it'd be cool.". I couldn't argue with that, and it was a really cool place to hang out it, not to mention probably the best place to hide if you wanted to get away from everyone for a bit.

It took me more than a few minutes but I finally reached my destination. I took a deep breath and mentally prepared myself for a moment before pushing the door open…

* * *

I immediately located Homura sitting in a booth in the rear right corner of the room. However, what greeted me upon closer inspection caught me completely off guard.

It appeared that Homura had decided to get something to eat, and that she had decided on some Apple pie with whipped cream on top. However, somehow she seemed to have fallen asleep in the middle of eating now being face down in the contents of her plate.

While I was very momentarily concerned that something may have happened to her, those fears were instantly cast aside as she jumped up hearing someone enter the room. Her head shot up with her eyes opened as wide as I'd image was physically possible.

The sight of her surprise coupled with the face that she had bits of pie and smudges of whipped cream all over her face was just too much and I immediately burst into crippling laughter to the point of tears. Homura just sat there looking at me puzzled, seemingly not understanding anything at the moment.

After a good minute of laughing I regained my composure and made my way over to the perplexed young woman. Before she had time to react to me I had already removed my handkerchief, and grabbed her hand. "Come on let's get you cleaned up." I said smiling warmly at her.

Realization dawned on her face as she looked at me and then to her plate of squashed dessert; and she opened her mouth to say something but I quickly place a finger over her lips. "Don't fuss. If you don't clean off all that sugar you're skin will break out." I said as I moved her towards the sink.

Surprisingly she complied, though begrudgingly with a noticeable pout on her lips.

"You look like a grumpy toddler." I teased, going to work cleaning up her messy face. She gave me a dangerous glare so I decided to lay off on the teasing for moment.

The next few minutes passed in silence as I methodically soaked the handkerchief, cleaned her face, then cleaned the handkerchief and repeated the whole process. I noted that this was the first time I had gotten a really good look at her since the whole bathroom incident.

Homura had always looked feminine, even when she was man. Looking at her now though, it was clear as day how much she had changed; and just how gorgeous she really was. Most noticeably was the fact that her whole frame appeared to have marginally shrunk. Her grey hair had grown out about 4cm and seemed softer and healthier. Her soft eyes and other facial features had also become even more feminine.

"Are you done?" she asked quietly as she reached brushed away a some of her hair and tucked it behind her ear so I wouldn't get it wet.

"Yep, sure am." I said, shooting her a cheerful smile. To which she responded by giving me a look that was a mixture of irritation and embarrassment.

My resolve firm, I headed her off before she could say or do anything with a preemptive strike. "So listen, we need to talk." I said taking her hand and giving her a determined look.

She hesitated for a moment, caught off guard by how I went right for the elephant in the room with zero subtly; before turning her head then quickly and harshly responding "what is there to talk about? I have nothing I want to talk to you about.".

"How about for starters what you are going to do to survive? In case you missed the memo 90% of the people just outside of this vault would kill you the instant they saw you; and we really need to talk about why that is, as well as what we are going to do about it. Sure you could hide down here for a while but is that really the solution to this?" I asked her seriously.

"Well…I…" she trailed off and hung her head.

"Hey, look regardless of what's happened you and I have a bond; and regardless of what you might think, I really like you and I want to help you out right now. So can you help me help you by just having a chat with me for right now? I promise I'll keep this as short and painless as possible, so long as you promise to do the same, deal?" I said teasing the last part.

Even though she still had her face averted from my own I noticed a small blush creep across her face as she gave a single quick nod in response to my proposal. "Good, why don't we go sit over there in the booth and get some food; it'll be more comfy and honestly I'm kind of hungry."

* * *

After re-locating to the booth and getting some late lunch I decided to begin. "So, first I want to start off with an apology. I'm very sorry Homura, I've been very thoughtless in the way I have treated you and our relationship. I won't make any excuses because I honestly have none, it was my fault that what happened happened and I want you to know that I don't hold it against you. I only hope, and ask that you could find it in you to forgive me. I know I've already made a mess of things and that may be hard to do; but if you can, I promise that I'll do my best to work harder to be a better Ashikabi, not just to you, but to every one of my Sekirei."

She stopped mid-chew with a look of shock and bewilderment on her face. "What are you apologizing for? You didn't do anything wrong…It was al-"

"But I did." I interrupted, " I didn't go out of my way to make an effort to talk to you when I should have. I didn't take the time to sit down and decide with you how we would work through the circumstances of our unique relationship together, I didn't make an effort to let you know that if you ever needed anything that you could always come to me whenever for whatever reason. I didn't let you know how important you are to me as my Sekirei and as my friend."

Homura just stared at me speechless with an adorably shocked look on her face.

I smiled and reached across the table and took her left hand with my own and gently gave it an affectionate squeeze. "Look, this isn't as big a deal as it has been made out to be; and the solution is fairly straightforward for us at this point. All you have to do is keep holding my hand and we'll go upstairs and apologize to everyone; and then we'll go from there alright?" I said gently.

She bit her lip trying to fight back her emotions as I took notice of a steady stream of tears now flowing down her fragile facial features. Seeing her like this made my heart ache. I just wanted to wrap my arms around her and comfort her in any way that I could; so that's exactly what I did.

She seemed surprised at first when she looked up and saw that I had moved right next to her after having felt my arm drape across her shoulder. That surprised look quickly faded into a longing gaze. I reached over to her face and gently brushed aside a lock of her hair so I could see her better and whispered: "It's alright, I promise you everything is going to be ok."

Hearing that, the proverbial 'emotional levee' burst and Homura began to bawl her eyes out. I gently reached out my other arm and pulled her into a loving embrace as she buried her face on my shoulder and let loose.

We sat there for a very long time going through a cycle of motions. She would cry and I would hold her and gently caress her hair while whispering words of comfort. After a few minutes of this she would then calm down for a bit; but would then randomly begin crying her eyes out again. I didn't mind though, because right then at that moment in time I knew that there was no one else who needed me as badly as Homura did.

Eventually she seemed to finally calm down for good, outside of a random sniffle and hiccup.

"Feeling any better?" I asked after a few minutes, still running my hands through her soft silver locks.

"Mmmhmm" she hummed quietly.

"Good, glad to hear it." I gently whispered, not really sure of what I should do or say next in this situation.

We sat there together embracing each other for a while longer in silence until I finally worked up the courage to ask the big question.

"Homura, what do you want to be?" I asked, afraid that I might set her off again.

"I want to be whatever you want me to be." she gently responded, much to my surprise.

"I just want you to be whoever you want to be. So long as you are happy, that's good enough for me." I said awkwardly, trying not let my voice betray my shock at her response.

"Are you honestly saying you have no preference of my gender?" She asked while shooting me an inquisitive look.

"At the risk of coming off as a pervert. I think that you look absolutely stunning regardless of your gender." I replied trying to avoid her gaze.

"Well color me surprised. I'd never would have guessed that you swung both ways; and by the way you did come off as a complete and total pervert with that last statement." she coyly teased.

I turned to face her and found a huge grin plastered on her face.

"Come on, don't tease me." I said extremely embarrassed.

"I'm sorry but you walked right into that one." She responded happily with a bright smile.

"Yeah I guess I did." I said joining in a quick laugh with her.

"I feel a lot better now, thank you." Homura said beaming.

"Even though it seems everything was at my own expense I am feeling much better as well." I responded mirroring her expression.

I scooted out of the booth and extended my hand to Homura. "Come on, let's get going, it's getting late."

"What if I don't want to." she responded jokingly, pouting like a 3 year old.

"Well I suppose I'd have to spend the night down here with you, which I am not opposed to; but I don't think many people up top will be too pleased with either of us in that scenario." I joked.

"Yeah, I don't need to piss anyone off anymore than I already have." Homura replied as she took my hand and stood up; during which I took notice that her cheeks were more than slightly flushed.

* * *

We began the trek back to the upper levels of the vault walking hand in hand in an awkward silence.

"You know, all of this is really new to me. I'm not really sure how I should act at all, and it's really confusing." Homura broke the silence halfway through our trip. I gave her a puzzled look an opened my mouth to ask her to clarify when she preemptively cut me off.

"I mean all of this, having a male Ashikabi when I was male was confusing enough but now I'm female and I'm even more confused as to how I should feel and act towards you." She said looking away in what I assumed was an attempt to hide her embarrassment.

I stopped and grabbed her other hand so that she was facing me. "Look, don't think about that too much right now. I understand how confusing this whole situation must be for you; but right now I think that all we need to worry about is getting to know each other better as friends. We'll figure the rest out together as we go along alright?"

Homura's face went crimson as she nodded gently.

"Good, one more thing though. I want you to promise me that if you ever have a problem, or something you need to talk about that you will come talk to me or one of the others about it ok?" I asked, to which she again nodded.

Turning and resuming walking I continued: "As weird as it sounds we **are **a family of sorts and as such I for one and going to try to work harder at nurturing this unique family of ours."

Homura smiled and responded: "Well that's all fine and dandy but like I said before, I'm still not exactly sure how I fit in here right now. You have a gaggle of giggly girls always trying to jump your bone; and while I am your Sekirei, if you think I'm just going to fall in place and join them in that behavior you've got another thing coming buddy."

"I wasn't expecting you to Homura, but at the very least I am hoping that we can become friends." I nervously replied not being able to sense if she was lightheartedly joking with me or seriously threatening me.

She muttered something under her breath that I couldn't quite catch as we reached the Vault's exit. "Huh, I'm sorry I didn't hear what you just said." I stated.

"It was nothing don't worry about it, I'm gonna go get changed, wait here." she said letting go of my hand and walking ahead into the decontamination chamber.

* * *

After the few minutes that it took both of us to change and exit the Vault one at a time we stood in front of the elevator doors waiting for it to arrive. Sensing Homura suddenly showing signs of an abrupt change in demeanor I took her hand: "Hey, don't worry everything is going to be ok."

"You're a human you don't understand, I hurt their Ashikabi intentionally. I could have killed you, every single cell in everyone of their bodies will probably scream out to kill me the moment they see me…" She trailed off, with a great deal a fear in her voice as we stepped into the elevator.

"Well firstly, I know for a fact that not all of them feel that way or else you would have been long since dead. Secondly, even if they are upset they all listen to me and I will not let any of them lay a hand on you or give you a hard time, I am their Ashikabi after all. And finally, you are also my Sekirei Homura so all of those mentioned feelings I assume you feel as well and then some. I will talk with them and explain, and they **will **listen **'or else'**." I said trying to sound menacing, which I guess didn't really come out as intended as Homura starting giggling.

"Stick to being cute, the whole big bad intimidating routine doesn't fit your image." She responded in between laughing.

"Oh, so you think I'm cute huh?" I said teasingly.

I felt her suddenly stiffen when I said that and she turned to try and hide her expression which didn't work since the elevator was mirrored on the inside for some random reason unknown to me.

"It's ok, there is no need to be embarrassed I know I'm cute; and if it makes you feel any better I think you're really cute as well." I said smugly trying not to ruin the mood.

She suddenly turned to face me, her gaze was intense and close, so close that I could easily see that the crimson tint on her face spread from ear to ear, even across her nose. She opened her mouth to say something but at that moment the elevator chimed that we had arrived at the main floor and she quickly jumped back and scrambled to get being me where she took a good hold of the back of my shirt with both of her hands as the doors opened.

I couldn't help but be slightly amused by the situation. Homura, Sekirei #6, one of my strongest Sekirei and arguably within the top 10 strongest Sekirei overall was cowering behind me like a scared child.

Stepping out of the Elevator into the main living room I found it unsurprisingly empty.

_"Everyone is probably sore about this whole situation. Ah well too bad."_ I opened my mouth to call out to Matsu but was interrupted by a cheerful greeting. I turned to see who it was and was greeted by Yume who immediately came up and engulfed both Homura and myself into a huge bear hug.

"I'm so happy to see you up and about Homura! Did you guys have a good talk?" She asked inquisitively.

"Yes, we did." I said smiling as I reciprocated the hug, Homura just gave a quick nod.

"Good! So what are you going to do now?" Yume asked.

"That's a very good question, one which I will answer as soon as I can gather everyone together down here. If you would please Matsu." I called out knowing very well that my brain type Sekirei was always listening.

"No problem! I'll have everyone down there in 5." I heard her call out over the intercom speaker in the room.

"Alright good, why don't we go sit down while we wait for everyone to arrive." I said talking each of my Sekirei by the hand and walking towards the love seat situated in the back corner of the living room directly to the left of the elevator.

Homura and I sat in the chair, and Yume sat on the left armrest next to me with her hands playing with my hair, it felt nice. I've always been extremely fond of Yume. She was easily the wisest and most mature of my Sekirei but she was also very loving and caring and I loved that about her.

So taking all that into account I decided to take care of one more thing before everyone showed up. "Homura, I know I said that everything would be alright, and it will be; but I need your ok for one last thing to ensure that for right now. Would you be alright with moving into Yume's room and kind of sticking with her when you aren't with me? At least until I can get a proper feel for how everyone is going to behave."

"And Yume, sorry to just kind of state that without asking if you are ok with it. But you're really the only one I trust enough to look after and protect Homura right now when I'm unable to. Is that a problem?" I asked feeling more than a bit guilty.

"Of course it's not! Homura is part of our family and if that is what you think is best I would be glad to look after him for the time being." Yume beamed at me while pulling me into a affectionate hug.

"Thank you Yume, and Homura is that ok with you?" I said turning to Homura.

"I don't want to cause anyone any trouble…" Homura said hanging her head down.

Yume quickly let me go and hopped off the armrest and strode over to the other side the chair where she leaned over and pulled Homura into a loving embrace. "You're never any trouble Homura, you're a precious member of this family and you mean just as much to me as everyone else here does."

"Then, I'll be in your care for now….thank you very much, both of you." Homura said quietly.

I couldn't help but smile "You're very welcome Homura."

"So Homura, since we'll be living together should I refer to you as a boy or a girl?" Yume immediately asked point blank.

"Hahaha, you're as tactless as ever Yume." I said teasing her.

Yume was extremely mature and well mannered for a Sekirei, but she was still a bit socially inept and had a tendency to not beat around the bush when it came to touchy subjects. She never did this intentionally it was just how she was, and as with everything else about her I loved that aspect of her.

Yume simply gave me a puzzled look not understanding why I was laughing. "I'm sorry if I said something I shouldn't have Homura I just wanted to know."

"It's ok Yume, for now given my current physical state it would seem appropriate to refer to me as a female." Homura said while failing to hide a visible smirk.

"I don't understand what's so funny!" Yume pouted.

_"And she is my 'most mature' Sekirei." _I chuckled internally motioning for Yume to return to my side. She complied in a single bound and reclaimed her previous position.

"I love you Yume." I said guiding her face towards me and planting a loving peck on her cheek.

"I love you too, even if you do tease me too much." she had her cheeks puffed out still feigning anger.

"Hey, it's not our fault you make it so eas-" I was cut off abruptly by the onset of a sudden and extremely unpleasant sensation. I guess I could best describe it to you as a sudden massive weight falling on my innards, my stomach in particular. I knew all too well what that feeling was, it heralded the arrival of Sekirei in an extremely unpleasant mood.

* * *

You see, when a Sekirei chooses an Ashikabi they bond, in many more ways than one. One of those bonds is an emotional bond of sorts. In short I can feel them and their emotions and they can feel mine. There are a lot of strange conditions and catches to this emotional sensing bond though. For one, it seems that if I am in close proximity or focusing on one Sekirei in particular the feelings of the others can be glossed over or 'tuned out' if that makes any sense. However this 'loophole' of sorts doesn't work when more than one of my Sekirei in close-ish proximity are experiencing the same emotion. Which is why I assume I hadn't felt all this malice up until this moment.

Yume quickly dropped her pouting routine and replaced it with a stern and serious look."Everyone will arrive shortly." She stated getting up from her position next to me.

I watched more than a bit mesmerized as she stood up and took up position directly behind the middle of the chair and crossed her arms staring intently at the door on the adjacent side of the room.

_"Damn, she's serious." _ I thought, noting that her stance was completely defensive and meant to discourage anyone from trying anything.

Having been through countless battles I can guarantee you that in 1-on-1 combat Yume was easily my strongest Sekirei if not the strongest Sekirei alive. That being said, my particular flock was infamous for being made up of some of most powerful Sekirei in the game, a point that I learned to take pride and comfort in as time went along.

At this moment though, that just served to make me increasingly nervous.

Sekirei looked human, but interacting with one for less than a minute will make it as clear as night and day that they are not human.

Sekirei are very 'feral' creatures by human standards, they have extremely powerful innate instincts that drive their behavioral patterns; and the two most powerful of those that I have learned of during my time with my flock are: to get as close to, and spend as much time as physically possible with their Ashikabi, and to protect their Ashikabi by any means necessary; and it was the latter of those two that worried me.

_"Homura may have been right, I really didn't understand. This could be a lot more dangerous that I initially thought. There is an extremely large amount of blood-lust coming from behind that door." _ I looked over at poor Homura, she was cowering in fear next me, visibly convulsing at the anger being directed at her.

_"Jesus Christ are they all just standing on the other side of the door thinking about murdering her!? What if they don't listen to me? What do I do if they just bum rush Homura? Yume is strong, but could she honestly stop them if they all came at once? Crap! I need to think of something! Hang on….they'd never hurt me. This is the outcome when someone hurts me….I can use this." _ Without saying a word I got up and re-positioned myself so I was standing in front of Homura between her and the door.

I swiveled my head and gave her a cheerful smile: "everything is going to be fine. Just stay close and don't say anything unless I tell you to alright?" She nodded as I felt both of her hands take a firm grip on the tail of my shirt. I then glanced over at Yume who's gaze hadn't budged a millimeter from the door. She took notice of my gaze turned and gave me a brief smile and nod before returning to her stern pose.

_"Alright, calm down, if I'm all riled up they'll sense it and get all excitable as well. Project calmness and love. Calmness and love…..Ok, here goes nothing!" _ I cleared my throat: ***ahem*** " I know you're all there. Would you kindly stop making me feel ill by standing there being unpleasant and join us, I need to talk to all of you."

There was a brief moment of silence before I finally heard the latch on the door click. I watched the door swing open and saw the rest of my Sekirei menacingly standing just outside the door-frame, they were all intently scanning the room, I guessed in an attempt to locate Homura.

"Well, come in." I stated very plainly when after about a minute not a single one of them had entered the room.

"Why is she acting like a guard dog." Benitsubasa said irritably pointing at Yume.

"Because I asked her too." I replied.

"Why her?" Karasuba asked inquisitively with a glint in her eye.

"Because I trust her."

"Oh, and you don't trust the rest of us?" Karasuba smirked and every eye turned shooting me a mixture of annoyed and hurt looks.

_"Damnit she's trying to get everyone riled up. Be calm, be calm. Alright I'm going to have get a bit harsh with them if they are gonna play like this." _

"Right now yes, that is true; and you are only further confirming that I made the right decision since Yume is the only one of my Sekirei to have listened to and obeyed everything I have asked of her thus far today." I bluntly stated.

That elicited the response I was looking for.

Matsu was the first one to enter, she gave a quick bow and apology and took a seat on the large sofa adjacent to my current position. Since she had separated from the group I could pick up on her emotional state clearly.

_"Poor Matsu is just petrified right now, I bet she was too scared to come in on her own cause of the others. I won't hold that against her."_

"It's alright Matsu, I forgive you." I gave her a warm smile.

Haihane was the second one to respond as she plainly trotted into the room joining Matsu on the sofa. Once out of the group I sensed she seemed irritated that everyone else was irritated.

I couldn't help but smile: "Thank you Haihane, I'm sorry about all this but just bear with it for a little while longer ok?"

She gave a expressionless nod of acknowledgement.

That was two down, but the others didn't look like they would budge anytime soon unfortunately. So I decided I'd have to add a little more incentive.

"Haihane, I'll take you to buy that new game you've been wanting and play through it with you after this as a reward, how does that sound?" I said happily.

Her face and mood brightened instantly: "I'll hold you to that."

I felt the foul mood dissipate greatly, almost instantaneously after my previous statement much as I had hoped it would. The prospect of the reward of 'Ashikabi time' distracting and overpowering their other instincts.

Saki (#55) was the next of my Sekirei to enter, quickly followed by Yomi (#43); both entering without a word and seating themselves near the other two. They both stared at me intently, I assumed waiting for some type of praise or reward.

_"They have some nerve…but I can't stay mad at them." _

"***sighs* **Alright, alright, we'll work out a reward for each of you later." I said massaging the temple of my forehead thinking briefly about how much this was going to take out of me in the long run as they both gave out cries of elation.

_"Oh well, can't be helped. Well at least I got the majority in here and sitting obediently now. That leaves three, and it's the exact 3 I expected to give me trouble." _

The remaining three were: #105 Benitsubasa, #14 Chiyo, and #04 Karasuba.

_"Realistically speaking, Chiyo is just mischievous and likes to be in on Karasuba's mischief, so she's probably not a real problem though she seems irritated. Ah! I should have never let her and Karasuba get close… What's really concerning is Benitsubasa, she is clearly the most pissed off right now; and if there was anyone to do something rash and stupid right now it would be her. This is all further confounded by the fact that Karasuba is acting as a wildcard. I can't tell what she is feeling or thinking. On her own Yume could easily handle Benitsubasa but if Karasuba decided to jump in as well I'm not sure how she would fair…" _ I continued running numerous scenarios in my head for possible outcomes.

"Come on hurry up! My TV show is going to start soon..." Haihane grumbled out irritably, snapping me out of my internal debate.

"Tell them that." I said pointing to the door, which prompted everyone in the room to turn and throw a nasty look at those holding up the situation.

Chiyo flinched, Karasuba didn't, and Benitsubasa's eyes began twitching in obvious fury.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?" Benitsubasa roared. Which prompted everyone in the room to focus their cautious attention on her.

"Want me to shut her up?" Haihane said irritably standing up.

"LETS SEE YOU TRY YOU DITZ!" Beni shrieked in response.

"If you're shutting her face up I want in Haihane." Yomi said as she stood up with a sneer.

"Sounds like a plan." Haihane said grinning menacingly.

"Heh, you think you can take me when you can't even beat the Northern Ashikabi's water bitch?" Benitsubasa chortled smugly.

That touched a nerve and Haihane lashed back: "It's better than losing to some bimbo with the intellect level of a toddler, but I guess that makes perfect sense when you really think about it since you are just as much of a child. Scratch that, you are more of a child because at least she's actually got a pair of boobs."

"I'M GONNA SMASH YOUR FACE IN BITCH!" Benitsubasa said, taking an step into the room with obvious aggressive intent.

"Let's go Miss Washboard, I'll tear you to ribbons." Haihane said darkly, also positioning herself to attack.

The situation was starting to spiral out of control. Everyone was getting riled up to the point I really thought they might try to kill each other. Realizing this wasn't going work I decided to cut my losses and re-adjust the situation accordingly. I looked at Yume who quickly hopped to my side and then assumed my previous position in front of Homura as I quickly lunged towards my other Sekirei in an attempt to prevent the impending battle.

I reached a point in between them just as it appeared they were about to pounce and roared at the top of my lungs: "ALRIGHT THAT'S ENOUGH!"

The malice in the room instantly vanished as I continued: "ALL OF YOU SHUT UP! CHIYO AND KARASUBA GET INSIDE AND SIT YOUR ASSES DOWN NOW I'M NOT PLAYING YOUR BULLSHIT GAMES ANYMORE."

Chiyo, looking petrified literally flew to a seat on one of the sofas in a single leap. Karasuba's response was a little more delayed; and in sequence it consisted of a raised eyebrow, a smirk, a chuckle and then a strut to a seat next to Matsu. Benitsubasa just stood there with a lost and stunned expression on her face.

Haihane let out a smug snicker. "SIT DOWN HAIHANE!" I roared at her, in response she let out a surprised squeak and did as commanded. I then turned to face Benitsubasa.

I didn't realize it then but that was the first time I had ever aggressively yelled at my Sekirei. In hindsight it was a really crummy thing to do. I'll never forget the look on Benitsubasa's face when I turned to face her after my shouting spree. She looked petrified; and like she was about to burst into tears.

The fear in her eyes was immediately followed by the coinciding emotions hitting me like a truck, causing me to momentarily forget why I was even mad in the first place. I just wanted to give her a hug and comfort her.

Quickly snapping back to reality though I remembered what I needed to do.

"Benitsubasa please go upstairs to my room and wait for me there, I need to have a talk with you; I'll be up as soon as I finish talking with everyone here ok?" I said quietly.

She nodded and then turned and ran out of the room. I felt the pain in her heart as she left, it was so strong it brought a tear to my eye; and I knew that meant she would likely be bawling her eyes out. I had to fight the urge to dash after her, I needed to settle things here first.

I took a deep breath and took a moment to regain my composure before turning to face the rest of my flock: "Alright everyone listen up, cause I'm only gonna go over this once…"

* * *

After finishing up my talk with everyone else downstairs, I excused myself from the living room and sprinted full speed to my room on the 2nd floor.

While running up the stairs I tried thinking through different scenarios in my head, of what to do when I actually got there. Benitsubasa's temper was as hot as her pink hair; but behind her aggressive tendencies she was actually very emotionally weak and one of the sweetest girls you'd ever have the pleasure of knowing. I know that I must have really hurt her feelings and it pained me to know that I had caused her pain.

Arriving at the door to my room I threw it open and scanned the room for my splenetic Sekirei; briefly and nervously entertaining the thought that she may have run away when I didn't see her. I calmed myself down and focused on trying to sense her, and hardly a moment later I felt a jumble up upset emotions seemingly originating from my bathroom.

I closed and locked the door behind me, then reached over and undid the cover on the light switch. The reason for doing this was because of Matsu's wiretapping of the house. Given the relationships we shared I rarely minded, and Matsu generally did respect privacy but just to be safe I clipped the main wire connecting my room to her room and then reattached both ends to a signal scrambler I had made to mess with her after I learnt she had snooped on one of my 'encounters' with one of my lovely ladies.

After that was done I slowly made my way towards the bathroom door. I reached out to open it; and by no surprise the door was locked. I rested my forehead against the door for a moment and just listened and I heard her quietly sniffling inside. Turning my back to the door I slowly slid down until I was seated on the floor.

"Beni…I'm sorry about earlier, I shouldn't have yelled like that. I'm not mad at you… Can you come out here and talk with me please?" I sat there for a few minute waiting for a response, when none came I tried again.

"Beni…please come out. I want to see you." I said softly. Again to no avail though.

"Benitsubasa, if you don't come out I'm gonna come in and get you out."

When there was still no response I decided that I would go get her out. So I walked over to my nightstand where I kept a spare master key in the drawer and quickly unlocked the door. As I opened it I caught a glimpse of her peeking out from behind the door that separated the actual bathing room from the rest of the bathroom. It was then that I also took notice that the bathtub was actually filled as the room was filled with warm steam which was coming from the crack below the door to the bathing room.

Now Benitsubasa was easily the shyest of my Sekirei next to Homura at his point. Mostly because of the fact that she had an intense complex about how small she was compared to the others. In light of this she often tried to avoid situations which would expose her in the company of others. Regardless of this I knew exactly what I was going to do it.

I quickly walked over to the door which she had also locked, however there was no complex lock on this one, a simple twist of a coin fished from my pocket in the slot unlocked it.

"DON'T COME IN HERE! I'M TAKING A BATH!" She exclaimed as I opened the door.

Without answering I simply walked over to the edge of my rather large bathtub and in a single motion hopped in right next to her. She attempted to flee, but I caught a firm grip on her wrist and she was trying to step out and pulled her back, right into a tight embrace.

"W-w-what are you doing…" she said quietly.

"This is my bathroom, and my bathtub, I can do whatever the hell I want, and right now I want to hold you. Do you have a problem with that?" I said firmly.

"N-no…" she responded as she relaxed.

"Good." I said, re-positioning my arms around her waist.

We were sitting with her positioned sitting in-between my legs, her back resting up against my still fully clothed chest. I rested my chin on her shoulder and let out a small sigh of relief.

To my surprise I felt her slender hand reach up and pat my head as she gently said: "It's ok…I kinda went overboard back there…sorry."

"No, it's not. It's never ok to treat a loved one like I did. I'm the one who's sorry…" I responded.

She moved her hands over top of my arms currently wrapped around her waist and gave an affectionate squeeze.

"I love you." she whispered.

"Even if I'm stupid all the time?" I asked.

"I'm just as stupid…do you love me regardless?" She asked nervously.

"You're never 'stupid', you just adorably illogical sometimes; and of course I love you regardless." I said tightening my hold on her and planting an affectionate kiss on her nape.

She let out a surprisingly girlish giggle in response and I followed up by nuzzling my face lovingly against her neck. We sat there for a while, just quietly enjoying each other's company until she finally broke the silence.

"So what did you lecture the others about?" she said while awkwardly using her hands to play with bathwater.

"I just asked everyone to lay off of Homura and to not give her a hard time. I understand why everyone would be upset with her, but she has a lot going on and a lot of it is actually my fault. As her Ashikabi it is my responsibility and I do care about her as my friend and one of my Sekirei and it would really break my heart if anyone did anything to hurt her further." I said while yawning.

"Oh…ok…I'm sorry." she said hanging her head.

"It's alright, like I said I understand why you guys would be upset with her; but as mentioned before it's kinda my fault to begin with and I wouldn't be able to live with myself if she got hurt any further because of me. So hurting her hurts me ok? And I know none of you would ever want to hurt me, much in the same way I never want to hurt any of you." I said trying to sound lighthearted.

She gave a simple hum of acknowledgement, and leaned her head back and rested in on my right shoulder.

Fun fact: being fully clothed in a hot bath with a hot girl propped up against you really raises your body temperature. By this point I was really starting to feel rather sick and my breathing was beginning to be labored. Benitsubasa took notice of this when she leaned back onto me and flew into a panic.

"Oh my gosh you're completely red! Why didn't you say something! Hurry up and get out and take off your clothes!" she said as she jumped up and extended her hand towards me.

"Hehe, I didn't want to move because it was just too comfortable, and I rarely ever get to spend time with you like this. As for getting out, I'm too tired to move." I said halfway conscious.

"Ugh, what am I gonna do with you." she said as she hoisted me up and out of the tub and placed me on a stool under the shower-head.

"Undress me?" I said suggestively.

"You need to cool off lover boy." she laughed sarcastically as she turned on the shower full blast which instantly drenched me in freezing cold water.

That snapped me out of my daze and I yelped in response.

"Oh hush, come on let's get you undressed." she said as she started reaching to pull off my shirt.

After about a minute I was completely in the nude still bathing in a frigid shower. I reached and changed it to a warmer temperature and then began washing my hair. Benitsubasa wordlessly scooted up next to me and began to do the same.

Not even 10 seconds after I started my strength completely vanished again and my arms fell to my side as I groaned. Benitsubasa took notice and gave a little sigh as she stood up and moved behind me and began massaging my scalp.

"You can be surprisingly helpless sometimes." she said as began rinsing the soap from my hair with warm water.

"What do you mean by that?" I lazily asked as I leaned my back up against her for support.

"I mean you can get stabbed multiple times in the chest and still run halfway across the city, and you can effortlessly land a jumbo jet after getting shot in the neck no problem, but a little heat and you're as helpless as a baby." She said teasingly.

"You know that I'm weak against heat, scratch that, I hate the heat, cold is best." I muttered.

"That's hilariously ironic in more ways than one." She said, and before I even had a chance to ask what she meant she gave me an answer by reaching around to my front and turning on the cold shower full blast yet again causing me to scream in surprise.

"Hahaha see? Also remember that you have a flame Sekirei, I wonder how she would feel if she heard that you 'hate the heat' hmm?" She said sticking her tongue out at me as I gave her a teasing glare.

"Homura isn't 'heat' she's Homura, it just so happens that she can heat things up; but I think that's true for all of my Sekirei." I teased suggestively as she started scrubbing my back.

"Oh really?" she replied, ignoring my pass.

"Yup for sure." I said yawning.

"You tired?" she asked as she finished rinsing me off yet again.

"Yeah, I'm gonna go to straight to bed. It's already dark anyway." I said slowly attempting to stand up, however I quickly lost my balance; but she caught me with ease.

"We'll have to get you dried off first." she said as she halfway carried me out into the main bathroom.

She propped me up against the sink and quickly moved to the linen closet and grabbed a stack of towels and then returned to me and began rubbing me down from head to toe.

Catching the noticeable tint on her face as she was working on my mid/lower sections I decided to tease her a bit.

"Hey, you wanna sleep with me tonight?" I said smirking.

My sudden proposition caused her to jump back being caught completely off guard.

"W-w-what are you saying!?" She stuttered out as she re-positioned the towel that she had previously been using to dry me off so as to cover and hide her body from view.

"Why are you covering up now? We've been in the nude together for past 10 minutes and it hasn't mattered; and you've been naked since I came in." I laughed.

Her face simply went crimson as she muttered: "but it's embarrassing if you point it out…"

"No it's not." I said as I made my way towards where she was sitting on the ground a few feet in front of me.

"You have a rocking body, something you should take pride in. I love it, it's fantastic." I continued as I slowly ran my hand up her right leg. Her skin was so soft, and she smelled so good fresh out of the bath, even though I was exhausted I was really getting turned on.

She didn't say anything and turned her head away in an attempt to hide her profuse blushing; which I didn't allow by taking a gentle grasp on her chin and turning her face back towards me while gradually leaning in and closing the distance between us.

"Beni…come on…let's go to bed." I whispered quietly bringing my lips to hers.

A moment later they gently met and the room was instantly filled with a bright crimson radiance.

After a few moment I slowly pulled back; and upon opening, my eyes they were greeted with an unusual looking Benitsubasa; eyes still closed, lips still puckered, face as red as her wings had been. She took a deep breath without changing her position and then quietly breathed out: "...ok…"

Smiling I stood up and extended a hand to help her up, which she accepted. Once both up we walked hand in hand out of the bathroom into my bedroom and sat down side by side on the edge of my bed near my nightstand.

I looked at the clock and noted it was almost 9 PM. _"Damn everyone's probably semi-worried since we both skipped dinner. I'd better let them know everything is alright." _I thought as I reached over to my nightstand and grabbed my cell phone.

Benitsubasa shot me a confused look, to which I responded: "It's late, we skipped dinner I'm sure at least someone is worried, I'm just gonna shoot Matsu a text letting her know everything is alright and not to disturb."

That elicited a bashful nod from her. After I sent the message I turned to face my lovely partner for the evening.

"Thank you." I stated as I reached up and gently brushed the hair up behind her left ear.

"For what?" she quietly inquired slowly moving her face towards me.

"For being perfect." I whispered just before our lips met.

* * *

We thoroughly enjoyed each other's company that evening, even despite my early heat spell in the bathtub.

After we had finished for the nth time I collapsed stomach down next to her trying to catch my breath from the extraneous activity that had just taken place. She purred happily and snaked her arms around my neck as she pulled herself up against my side and hooked her right leg over and through both of mine.

"I love you." She cooed out happily.

"I know you do, and it goes without saying that I love you too." I said as I turned my head and extended over to plant an affectionate peck on her sweat covered forehead. Even sweaty and dirty from long sessions of lovemaking she was still perfect and beautiful. I rolled over and extended my right arm and she scooted over top of it; and after extending her own right arm across my torso and pulling herself as close as possible, she rested her head on the upper right portion of chest, again intertwining her right leg within my own two. It was in this position that we effortlessly drifted into blissful and deep sleep.

* * *

The next morning I was awoken by fidgeting going on in my bed.

"Hmmm what's wrong?" I asked sleepily as I opened my eyes. I was greeted by the site of my petite pink Sekirei staring at me sitting at the edge of the bed. I took notice that she was now wearing one of my sleeping shirts which I assume she had gotten up and put on at some point recently. A moment after I had asked what was wrong I heard an all to familiar growling coming from her midsection; and I immediately burst into laughter.

"Hey! Don't laugh! I didn't eat anything since breakfast yesterday…"She trailed off embarrassed.

"I'm sorry, but if you were hungry you should have just gone and gotten some food love." I said stretching out my arms and legs.

"…I didn't want to leave your side while you were still asleep…" she muttered quietly.

I couldn't help but shoot her a warm smile as I crawled over to where she was sitting and planted a kiss on her pouting lips.

"You're a real sweetheart you know that?" I said pulling her snuggly little frame into an embrace, she was so soft and warm I didn't want to ever let her go; but then I heard her stomach grumble yet again due to lack of food.

"Alright, alright, come on lets go get some breakfast." I said standing up and walking over to my dresser to get some clothes. After I was dressed I looked over to her still sitting on the bed and inquired: "You need some clothes?"

She sheepishly nodded in response, so I picked out a pair of small shorts and a t-shirt that I usually used when working out and tossed them over to her and she quickly got dressed.

After she was done we exited my room hand in hand and made our way downstairs.

"Hey you know what? I just realized something, I've never seen you asleep in the mornings; you're always awake before I am. What's with that?" I asked inquisitively.

"It's unladylike for a woman to be seen asleep by her lover first thing in the morning." She plainly retorted.

"That's a load of nonsense, when a guys wakes up after spending the night with his lover the first thing he wants to do is snuggle up with his still sleeping partner." I responded.

"Then wake up earlier." She said sticking her tongue out at me.

"I will!" I said with a joking huff to which she responded with a giggle.

We arrived in the dining room just as everyone else was finishing up breakfast. As expected or arrival was met with scowls and leers, particularly aimed at Benitsubasa. I simply ignored them and smiled and let out a warm: "Good Morning Everybody!" I got a mixed response back outside of Yume which I was thankful for.

After taking our seats Saki handed Benitsubasa and I some food and we dug in, I noticed out of the corner of my eye that Benitsubasa was shooting smug looks around the table and periodically sticking her tongue out at those she caught looking my way.

_"*Sigh* just another day in life of an Ashikabi…" _

After finishing up breakfast Benitsubasa spoke up: "So what are you doing today?" She inquired of me.

"Umm, I think I'm gonna take Haihane shopping and spend some time with her like I promised I would." I said smiling at her.

Benitsubasa's mood noticeably sunk and she pouted, while Haihane jumped up and cheered in celebration.

"Oi! Clam down please." I said to them, then standing up I redirected my attention to the rest of the room and addressed everybody: "So yes, today I'm gonna spend some time with Haihane. In the mean time I want the rest of you to think up things you'd like to do together with me, because each of you is going to have a day with just you and me alright?" That got a positive response out of everybody.

"When is my day with you!?" Benitsubasa grumped.

"After everyone else's." I stated plainly.

"Booo." she pouted and crossed her arms.

"Hey you can shut up, you had him all to yourself since yesterday evening!" Yomi growled.

I smiled, happy things were finally getting back to normal around here. I then walked over to where Yume and Homura were sitting and inquired as to how they were both doing. After being assured that both of them were fine and had slept very well; Yume informed me that the two of them were going out shopping for some clothes that fit Homura's new and smaller frame properly. I gave Yume a peck on the cheek and told them to be careful and sent them happily on their way.

* * *

In the following days and weeks things leveled out even more so. During my designated 1-on-1 days with my Sekirei we addressed a lot of previously ignored/unknown issues; and the end result was happiness on an entirely new level for all of us.

Homura gradually began to come out of her shell and found unlikely friendship with Matsu and Saki, mostly because Saki loved to dress her up and parade her around the house, and Matsu was always trying to run tests on her to find out what made her so different from everyone else. Even though Homura initially seemed weary of their arguable harassment, I could tell she was having fun.

The others may not have necessarily been 'friends' with Homura; but as with my other Sekirei that didn't necessarily get along, they learned to tolerate her presence and coexist. Benitsubasa and Haihane even started using fire related puns whenever they could when she was around, though they insisted they were not out of affection in any way.

My relationship with Homura was surprising, mostly in the sense that it was actually pretty normal after all these events transpired.

Homura had insisted that she be the last of my Sekirei for a designated 1-on-1 day but when the day finally came I was more than a bit surprised to find her all dressed up in a cute blouse with a miniskirt and some styling boots as well.

We went out to the aquarium, sat down to a great dinner, walked in the park talked and joked around, laughed about how silly we had been in the recent past and just really hit if off surprisingly well. Though I think the biggest surprise came at the end of the day as I was walking her back to her room.

When we reached her door she turned and faced me.

" I had a really good time with you today. Thank you, for everything…" She said.

"You're welcome Homura, and I had a wonderful time spending the day with you as well. Let's do it again sometime soon ok?" I sincerely stated.

"Really?" She said with more than a hint of hope apparent in her voice.

"Most definitely! Well I'm gonna go wash up now, thanks again for spending the day with me. Goodnight!" I raised my hand to wave, and was completely caught off guard when Homura, moving faster than I'd ever seen, planted a quick kiss on my cheek.

"Goodnight, see you tomorrow!" she squeaked out before quickly ducking into her room and slamming the door shut.

"Goodnight." I said to the door as I smiled and then turned and headed off towards my own room.

* * *

Even more than you could ever imagined has happened since then, but that's pretty much the important footnotes of how we got to the point of Homura on top of me in nothing but a dress shirt preparing to torch Benitsubasa.

Back to those events now though.

* * *

I watched in silent horror as Homura's finger moved within inches of Benitsubasa's forehead.

Guesstimating through observation that she was within a a few moments of making contact at her current rate of speed I was about to close my eyes and brace for the impending noise when Homura suddenly plunged her ignited finger right onto Benitsubasa's shoulder blade with blinding speed.

There was a loud ***POP*** which I instantly could tell was my shoulder being forced out of place by Benitsubasa's response to being burned in her sleep; which began with her grip clamping down on my shoulder with her inhuman strength (leading to its dislocation), and was followed by her immediately releasing me and jumping out of her sleep. An action that caused her to roll out of the bed and onto the floor.

After a moment down there she let loose at the top of her lungs, screaming: "WHAT THE FLYING F #K WAS THAT!?"

She stood up and saw Homura leaning over me, flame still in hand shooting her a smug look that screamed: _'that was payback for all those times you've teased me, and it felt so good!'_.

Benitsubasa shot me a look of irritated disbelief seemingly trying to get a response out of me as Homura repositioned herself into a seated position on the bed behind me.

"I'm sorry, you were crushing my shoulder and I asked Homura for help…" I guiltily muttered as I popped my shoulder back into place.

Hearing the second pop Benitsubasa turned downcast: "I'm sorry…"

"It's ok, you didn't break anything, it's just a little bit sore." I motioned to her with my arm to show her that it was ok.

She smiled at my attempt to cheer up and got back into the bed and began to gently massage my shoulders: "We'll have Yume take a look at it just to be sure ok?"

"Sounds good. Come on, let's go get some breakfast cause I'm starved, you coming with us Homu-" I turned to inquire of my flame Sekirei only to find her missing.

"And, she's gone. Damn she's fast." I muttered under my breath.

"Where'd Miss Flames for Brains go?" Beni asked also taking notice that Homura was no longer present.

"Probably to eat our portion of breakfast." I teased.

"HUH?! OH HELL NO!" She said jumping up and sprinting out of the room and I could hear her continuing on down the hall shouting out warnings to anyone who dared touch her portion.

I chuckled as I stood up and started to make my way downstairs as well. After reaching the dining room I was greeted by the happy faces of my 8 lovely ladies.

"GOOD MORNING!" they all sung.

"Good Morning girls!" I smiled back at them taking my seat at the head of the table. I pause for moment and simply observed them. They all seem so carefree in this moment, and that makes me so happy.

We'd all been through so much to get to this point, and I don't doubt that we will face many more seemingly impossible challenges from this point on. This strange family of mine with the strange love that we share may seem unnatural to most others; heck even I think it's unnatural haha. But regardless of that, I wouldn't change it for the world. I'll continue to enjoy and cherish every single moment that I have with them, from now until the end of time.

_** THE END**_

* * *

**A/N: **So that's my story. Firstly if you've made it this far, thank you so much for reading! I'd love any feedback, tips and advice that you all have to offer; and I welcome constructive criticisms, though I request that you please try not to completely tear me to shreds, I know I'm far from a good writer but I'm always willing to learn, correct my mistakes and to try and get better. And kindly pointing out what I'm doing wrong and suggesting fixes rather than senseless flaming will be very much appreciated. _  
_


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